http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Fri, 24 May 2013 19:41:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/29/ukip-chairman-endorses-theresa-may-on-abu-qatada/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/29/ukip-chairman-endorses-theresa-may-on-abu-qatada/#comments Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:36:01 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34546 I scored an unexpected Blairite victory on Voice of Russia radio today. We were discussing the Abu Qatada case with David Coburn, chairman of UKIP London, who wants the UK to decide who it keeps and who it chucks out, with Abu Q in the second category. Obviously, he want to repudiate the European Convention [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/29/ukip-chairman-endorses-theresa-may-on-abu-qatada/feed/ 3 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/22/political-ads-on-tv-as-you-were/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/22/political-ads-on-tv-as-you-were/#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:25:22 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34347 Although most informed observers thought the European Court of Human Rights would rule against the UK’s ban on political advertising on television, the Grand Chamber has done the opposite. By the narrowest margin of nine votes to eight it has ruled that the ban is proportionate, and is therefore compatible with the freedom of expression, [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/22/political-ads-on-tv-as-you-were/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/21/political-ads-on-tv/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/21/political-ads-on-tv/#comments Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:53:09 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34323 The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights is likely to rule tomorrow against the British ban on political advertising on television. Jacob Rowbottom, fellow at University College, Oxford, expects the Chamber to decide that the ban contravenes the right of freedom of expression in article 10 of the Convention on Human Rights. This might [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/21/political-ads-on-tv/feed/ 3 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/10/19/the-uk-should-put-bahrain-blood-before-oil/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/10/19/the-uk-should-put-bahrain-blood-before-oil/#comments Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:25:42 +0000 Rohan Jayasekera http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=29255 Most international observers would agree with the UK Foreign Affairs Committee’s conclusion that the Foreign Office should have listed the Gulf island Kingdom of Bahrain as a ‘country of concern’ more than a year ago. Since February 2011 and the start of protests against state corruption and discrimination against Bahrain’s Shi’a majority populace, the government has driven a fierce crackdown on protesters, bloggers, civil society leaders and ordinary citizens caught up in the crisis.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/10/19/the-uk-should-put-bahrain-blood-before-oil/feed/ 5 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/23/free-press-in-mexico-impunity-for-lydia-cacho/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/23/free-press-in-mexico-impunity-for-lydia-cacho/#comments Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:00:56 +0000 Lucy Popescu http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=27696 Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to work as a journalist – since 2006, 67 journalists have been killed and 14 have disappeared in the country.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/23/free-press-in-mexico-impunity-for-lydia-cacho/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/17/bahrain-injustice-and-violence-continue-while-west-keeps-quiet/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/17/bahrain-injustice-and-violence-continue-while-west-keeps-quiet/#comments Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:37:38 +0000 Fatima Kanji http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=27512 According to media reports on Monday, police had once again been firing tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors. The same day the High Court of Appeal in Bahrain postponed the final verdict on the appeal of thirteen opposition activists relating to their participation in pro-reform demonstrations last year. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/17/bahrain-injustice-and-violence-continue-while-west-keeps-quiet/feed/ 16 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/07/communications-data-bill-technology-is-making-dystopia-not-just-possible-but-cheap/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/07/communications-data-bill-technology-is-making-dystopia-not-just-possible-but-cheap/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:00:14 +0000 Mike Harris http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=27131 Wide-eyed internet visionaries told us technology would free its users from the iron grip of states, with the internet blind to borders and not respecting the dictats of bureaucrats. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/07/communications-data-bill-technology-is-making-dystopia-not-just-possible-but-cheap/feed/ 24 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/26/britain-should-either-acknowledge-its-many-imperial-crimes-or-stop-pretending-to-care/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/26/britain-should-either-acknowledge-its-many-imperial-crimes-or-stop-pretending-to-care/#comments Thu, 26 Jul 2012 07:00:29 +0000 Emanuel Stoakes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26738 Three elderly Kenyan citizens, after several hard years of campaigning, are finally being seen by a judge in a British court over allegations that they were tortured by the UK over 60 years ago, in a truly shameful episode from this country’s late imperial history.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/26/britain-should-either-acknowledge-its-many-imperial-crimes-or-stop-pretending-to-care/feed/ 181 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/24/the-tragedy-of-kris-and-marita-maharaj/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/24/the-tragedy-of-kris-and-marita-maharaj/#comments Tue, 24 Jul 2012 02:00:08 +0000 Clive Stafford Smith http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26691 There are few experiences as discordant as representing an innocent person who has been sentenced to death. After all, if the prisoner is innocent, he is one hundred percent sure that he did not commit the crime; yet twelve jurors have concluded, beyond a reasonable doubt, not only that he did, but that he should be executed for it.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/24/the-tragedy-of-kris-and-marita-maharaj/feed/ 31 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/19/a-few-things-you-should-know-about-ecuador-beyond-assange/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/19/a-few-things-you-should-know-about-ecuador-beyond-assange/#comments Thu, 19 Jul 2012 01:00:41 +0000 Guadalupe Marengo http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26498 Julian Assange's dramatic flight in June into the Equadorian embassy in London was a moment of high drama as the Wikileaks founder sought asylum given his imminent extradition to Sweden where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault. His choice of safe haven will have had many in Europe reaching for their world atlases as they tried to identify the precise location of the South American country. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/19/a-few-things-you-should-know-about-ecuador-beyond-assange/feed/ 68 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/19/bhopal-and-the-sound-of-silence/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/19/bhopal-and-the-sound-of-silence/#comments Wed, 18 Jul 2012 23:15:47 +0000 Samar Jodha http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26516 In Bhopal, India, on 2 December 1984, toxic gas slipped into the wintry night from a chemical factory and travelled towards unsuspecting victims, most of whom were fast asleep. Thousands were killed. It was one of the worst chemical disasters of the modern age.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/19/bhopal-and-the-sound-of-silence/feed/ 3 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/09/this-conflict-in-the-holy-land-must-end-for-the-children%e2%80%99s-sake/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/09/this-conflict-in-the-holy-land-must-end-for-the-children%e2%80%99s-sake/#comments Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:26:00 +0000 Emanuel Stoakes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26124 The enduring fact of the failure of peace in the so-called Holy Land is a royal spring of misery from which bitter tensions flow, with mournful consequences for the entire restive middle-east region, already strained by wars and rumours of wars.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/09/this-conflict-in-the-holy-land-must-end-for-the-children%e2%80%99s-sake/feed/ 295